This project will initiate a program for developing a set of analytical tools to aid in the planning and decision processes associated with the design, modification, and operation of regional health care systems. In working toward this goal, the immediate objective of this project is to explore the application of decision analysis to regional health care planning and decision-making. The strategy for accomplishing these objectives will consist of the following steps: (1) set up a collaborative relationship with an agency that has line responsibility for regional health planning; (2) analyze the existing planning and decision processes within this representative agency to gain insight into those areas where there is the highest potential for the development of analytic tools; (3) conduct a pilot analysis of a particular decision problem in some depth to gain experience in the strengths and limitations of decision analysis in the regional health planning context; (4) identify those problems of general concern to regional health care planning, both present and future, in which analytical tools can play an important role in improving the decision processes; and (5) design a research plan for the further development and refinement of those models, concepts, and techniques that have the highest potential contribution to regional health planning. The net result then will be the identification of particular needs for analytical capability in regional health care planning, the preliminary development of a set of tools to fill this need, and the design of a research plan for the further refinement and development of these analytical aids.